Company Search

Search is the entry point to Topograph. Before you can retrieve company data, download documents, or set up monitoring, you need the company’s unique identifier. Search gives you that identifier.

​

Why Search Matters

Every Topograph workflow starts with a company ID:

• Onboarding: Pass the ID to /v2/onboarding to prefill customer forms
• Verification: Pass the ID to /v2/company to fetch authoritative register data
• Documents: Use the ID to retrieve official PDFs from public registers
• Monitoring: Use the ID to track changes over time

Search is how you get that ID. It’s free, fast, and designed to handle the complexity of finding companies across different countries with different identifier formats.

​

How Search Works

Topograph combines multiple data sources to give you the best possible results:

​

Registry Search

For most queries, we leverage the search capabilities of official company registries directly. This gives you authoritative, up-to-date results. The registry’s own search algorithm determines relevance—some registries have sophisticated fuzzy matching, while others only support exact matches.

​

Cached Index Search

For select countries, we maintain a local index of company data. This enables:

• Faster results: Sub-second response times without registry latency
• Better fuzzy matching: Our own search algorithms handle typos and partial matches
• Consistent behavior: Same matching quality regardless of registry quirks
• Higher availability: Results even when the registry is temporarily down

When both sources are available, we query them in parallel and merge the results. This gives you the speed of cached search with the comprehensiveness of live registry data.

​

Understanding Results

​

Match Types

Every result includes a matchReason that explains how it was found. This helps you assess result quality and build appropriate logic around different confidence levels. When matchType is id or partialId, the response includes an identifier field showing exactly what matched (e.g., { "VAT": "02580590541" } or { "CCIAA": "TO", "REA Code": "1234567" }). When matchType is default, the result came from the registry’s own search algorithm. Quality varies significantly—some registries return highly relevant results, others may include tangential matches. Consider default results as suggestions that benefit from user confirmation.

​

Result Ordering

Results are automatically sorted by match reliability:

1. id — Guaranteed matches appear first
2. exactLegalName — Exact name matches second
3. partialId — Partial identifier matches third
4. default — Generic matches last

This ordering ensures the most trustworthy results appear at the top. When building UIs, consider visually distinguishing high-confidence matches from default matches to help users make informed selections.

​

Searching Effectively

​

Search by Identifier When Possible

If you have a company’s VAT number, registration number, or tax code, search with that. Identifier searches return id match types—guaranteed 1:1 matches with no ambiguity. This is always the most reliable approach.

​

Scope by Country

Always specify the country. Country-scoped searches are faster and return more relevant results. If you’re building an onboarding flow, you likely already know the customer’s country from earlier in your form.

​

Handle Ambiguous Results

When your search returns multiple results with default match types, present them to the user for selection rather than auto-selecting. The first result isn’t always the right one—registries don’t always order by relevance.

​

Use Streaming for Interactive UIs

In interactive applications, enable streaming to show results progressively. This improves perceived performance significantly—users see initial results in under a second rather than waiting for all sources to complete.

​

Search in the KYB Flow

Search is the critical first step in a typical KYB onboarding workflow:

1. Search: Customer finds their company, you capture the ID
2. Onboard: Use the ID with /v2/onboarding to prefill forms quickly (€0.50, P90 < 5s)
3. Verify: Use the ID with /v2/company to fetch authoritative register data
4. Monitor: Use the ID to track changes and stay compliant

The search step costs nothing and typically completes in under 5 seconds. It’s designed to minimize friction at the very start of your funnel.

KYB Onboarding Best Practices

Learn how to combine search with onboarding and verification endpoints to build high-conversion KYB flows.

​

Country Considerations

Search capabilities vary by country due to differences in registry APIs and data availability: Countries with cached indexes generally offer faster responses and better fuzzy matching. For detailed country-specific information, see Country Specifics or our Coverage Map.

​

Best Practices

​

Next Steps

Once you have a company ID from search, you’re ready to retrieve data: